Dogwood Literacy Council

Rufino 

When Rufino first came to our Council office about a year ago, he was very tentative about trying to express his needs in English. He politely, but urgently, arranged for two classes per week with a tutor. 

Rufino is a young man with a wife and young children. He worked in one of the poultry plants, but very much wanted to get a job as an over-the-road (OTR) driver. He came to classes faithfully and even brought instruction tapes to listen to at home. He soon learned enough to start watching the news on television in English. In class, we covered filling out job applications, going on interviews, follow-up thank you letters, etc. 

About three months ago, Rufino learned of a job opening in his company for an OTR dirver. He had the confidence to apply for the job, go through interviews, and follow up with a nice letter. He got the job—the first man of his ethnicity this company has hired as an OTR driver. He is very grateful to our Council for helping to build both his abilities and his confidence.

Dr. Lee 

Last year I tutored Dr. Lee, who is a doctor from Korea planning to go to Bangladesh as a missionary. He wanted to become more proficient in English because most of the other people on his team would be English speakers. 

Dr. Lee made good progress in the correct pronunciation of words and in proper sentence structure. He could carry on a good conversation on various topics; he improved greatly in this area in the nine months we spent together. He felt much more confident in his speaking ability, and I enjoyed working with him very much.

Morayma 

Morayma is a young Hispanic mother who hardly spoke a word of English when she came to me to be tutored. Her boss was pleased to find out she was learning English because she was not speaking the language at work. Now, almost a year later, she speaks, reads and writes English much better. Her boss even remarked, “Now she talks a lot to us in English.” He, along with Morayma, is grateful to us for our services. 

Note: Morayma recently moved to Colorado. Her Siloam Springs employer hired a new worker whose English is very limited. He has sent her to us for tutoring.